SHIMLA- On Thursday, a contractor had to run away as he confronted locals in Lakkar Bazaar who were furious over the poor quality of maintenance work. Reportedly, the newly installed tiles on a pedestrian path in Lakkar Bazaar, Shimla couldn’t hold much as negligible amount of cement was used. Locals said that some people had narrow escape as they almost had skid off the loose tiles. The pedestrians had to remove the tiles and place them aside to ensure safety. The contractor is placing new tiles over the old, damaged ones without removing them, which is also questionable.

People were questioning the contractor, but he had no answer to their questions. Eventually, the contractor ran away from the spot. Himachal Watcher talked to the locals and recorded their angry remarks about corruption of the contractor.

People also complained that no official from corporation ever visits the spot to check the quality of work or material and contractors are eating up public money openly. The material should be taken for testing, demanded the locals.

Case of Summerhill Ward

Similar case was reported from Summerhill Ward where the Boileauganj to Shivmandir road is being repaired. The contractor didn’t remove the old, broken tiles and instead placed new one over them.

Administration hardly bothered about public facilities earlier. However, now the five-year tenure of the Shimla MC House is nearing its end. So ahead of next elections, the civic body has started maintenance work on Shimla’s pedestrian paths. However, people from separate places are complaining regarding poor quality material and unprofessional work by the private contractors.

The anger of public is a hint that they are fed up with corruption in the contracts allotted to private contractors, which is a very healthy sign for a democratic society.

Madan has studied English Literature and Journalism from HP University and lives in Shimla. He is an amateur photographer and has been writing on topics ranging from environmental, socio-economic, development programs, education, eco-tourism, eco-friendly lifestyle and to green technologies for over 9 years now. He has an inclination for all things green, wonderful and loves to live in solitude. When not writing, he can be seen wandering, trying to capture the world around him in his DSLR lens.

Video of Child Trying to Wake up His Dead Mother- Court Takes Cognizance

Shimla-A Division Bench headed by Sanjay Karol. CJ., had taken suo motu cognizance of a news article of the newspaper Times of India dated 28th May 2020 wherein an item reads as “Video of a child trying to wake up his dead mother goes viral.”

Justice S. Kumar invited the attention of Chief Justice of the Court to a newspaper article wherein the portion talks about a “Video of Child trying to wake up his dead mother goes viral.”

A video of a toddler trying to wake up his dead mother lying on a railway platform has gone viral on social media. The child can be seen removing a shawl covering his mother’s body.

The Bench stated if the items as stated in the news report are correct of which it has no reason to disbelieve. This warrants intervention in exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, taking suo motu cognizance of the said news item.

Bench laid the following issues for immediate attention:

Whether the postmortem of the dead-body was conducted? If yes, what was the cause of death? Did the lady actually die of hunger?

Was she travelling alone with her sibling ? If not, who all were her companions,

What action stands taken by the law enforcing agencies,

Were the relatives of the deceased informed of the incident,

Were the last rights of the deceased performed as per the custom, tradition and the instructions issued by the government, and

Above all who is now taking care of the children/sibling(s), who unfortunately lost their mother in these times of distress.

Bench before giving any order directed Additional Advocate General-IX to obtain instructions on the above issues.

The AG stated that the news report is partially incorrect. Deceased was mentally unstable and had died a natural death during the course of her journey. District Administration facilitated by providing an Ambulance up to the place of destination. The orphaned child is in safe custody and guardianship of the sister of the deceased.

Further AG stated that even though the child is safe and secure, yet he shall personally pursue the matter with the authorities who would again reach out to the family, enquiring any need of assistance.

The matter was again taken up on 3rd June and the following order has been passed:

Our concern, as indicated in earlier order dated 28th May, 2020, have not been adverted to and as such, as prayed for, we grant three days’ time to the respondents to file an affidavit. Let needful be done on the affidavit of the Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Home, Government of Bihar.

Shimla-For securing ‘Right to Health’ and medical facilities by ensuring an adequate number of doctors in the rural areas, an important order has been passed by the ‘Patna High Court’ in the current situation of a Pandemic. The Order is in line with judiciary’s endeavour to fulfil its obligation towards securing social justice for the poor and especially for the people living in rural parts of our country.

The Court has essentially said that to determine the academic merit of (Doctors) candidates, merely securing high marks in NEET is not enough. The academic merit of the candidate must also reckon the “services rendered for the common or public good.” Having served in rural and difficult areas of the State for one year or above, the incumbent having sacrificed his career by rendering services for providing healthcare facilities in rural areas deserves incentive marks.

A Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol ordered,

“The Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar shall, with the normalization of the of the current Pandemic COVID-19, ensure that vacancies in the rural/ remote/ difficult areas are filled up to the maximum extent possible, either by transfer or expediting the process of recruitment.”

The court took notice of the fact that in the state out of 11645 sanctioned posts of doctors, 8768 were lying vacant, out of which 5674 fell in the difficult/remote/rural areas. And despite the same, Government chose to not grant incentive of weightage in marks in NEET test, to the doctors posted in these areas. It went on to observe that the State Government is “neglecting” rural areas by taking these measures and catering to ‘vested interests’ by only posting the majority of the doctors in urban areas.

The Court directed the concerned authorities to redraw the merit list strictly by the law which in the instant case were ‘two notifications’ issued by the State. The said notifications granted benefit for service in rural areas but was not being implemented.

In the stand taken in court, the State had justified its decision of not granting the above benefit stating that “the merit would stand compromised and would adversely affect the in-service doctors posted at urban areas.”

However, the Division Bench disagreed, stating;

“Can a Welfare State even adopt such a stand more so in the absence of any plea or material to indicate absence of doctors or higher percentage of vacancy of the posts in the urban areas?”..

…”Incentivizing posting of doctors/medical staff in the specified areas can only be in public interest and for public good and not the other way round. Under the Constitution all power must be exercised to subserve public interest, for public good and for a public cause. If only such benefits are accorded would the Doctors voluntary opt to serve the poor, the needy, the deprived and the marginalized ones living in the remotest corner of the State.”

The Division Bench opined that if the State Government has found that circumstances warranted the need for such incentives, “then the State could not and should not deny such incentive.”

“Undoubtedly discretion of according benefits, vests with the Government, but then, its exercise has to be based on some rational and not in an arbitrary and capricious manner. There is no logic of depriving the doctors posted in the rural areas of such benefits.”

The Court went on to pull up the Bihar Government for having admitted, through notifications issued in 2013 and 2014, that there were difficult/ remote areas in need of doctors on the one hand while denying to provide incentives to fill in these vacancies on the other.

“Strangely, if not collusively, it has taken a specious plea of interpreting such a Notification limited only to the identification of areas in terms of the Regulation and not taking a decision conferring benefits in terms thereof. Such a stand is both immoral and illegal.”

“The power to grant incentive is discretionary, but then having done so, State cannot be allowed to turn around and contend to the contrary, notwithstanding as to whether such benefit was neither claimed nor conferred upon any individual. Mere non-enforcement of a right by an individual or its non-conferment upon by the State would also not be a reason for the State to adopt such a dubious plea.”

The Court proceeded to dismiss the State’s appeals and issued the following directions:

All candidates who have participated in the selection process, including the writ petitioners and are otherwise eligible, would be entitled to the benefit of 2013 and 2014 Notifications issued by the Government of Bihar;

Provision in the prospectus to the contrary is held to be illegal and void

The Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board shall redraw the merit list strictly in accordance with law by granting benefit of 2013 and 2014 Notifications after accounting for the certificates/proof of eligibility, for grant of incentives in terms of Regulation 9(IV) issued by the MCI.

The Unsung Economic Emancipator of the Shimla Hills

Shimla- May 14th, 2020 was marked as the 74th death anniversary Satyanand Stokes- the man who brought the American Delicious variety of apples to Himachal Pradesh.

It was in the winter of 1916, Satyanand Stokes, planted a new strain of apple variety known as Red Delicious at his Barubagh orchard in Thanedhar, 80 Kms northeast from Shimla. During his visit to his home town Philadelphia in 1915, he found out that a new strain of apples has been developed by the Stark Brothers in Louisiana.

Later that year while returning to India, he managed to smuggle few apple saplings, hidden in pillows, to India from Louisiana. That’s how the apple cultivation sprouted in Shimla Hills, which would in later years, transform the economy and destiny of these hills.

Samuel Evans Stokes was born in Philadelphia on 16th August 1882 in a family in the business of elevators– running in the name of “Stokes & Parrish Machine Co” (Later merged with Otis).

In 1904, he met a doctor couple- Mr. and Mrs. Carleton, who used to run a home for leper patients in Northern India- at Philadelphia, while they were raising funds for the building churches and were also looking for volunteers to work in a leper home in Northern India. Influenced by their work, he decided to join them in their work in India.

At the age of 21 years, he landed on the shores of Bombay on 26 February in 1904 from Philadelphia and started working in Leprosy home in Sabato, Solan (what was then Punjab). As this was his first summer in India, the extremely hot conditions of Indian summer forced Mr. Carleton to send him to take rest at Church at Kotgarh, near Shimla.

While recovering in Kotgarh, he explored the surrounding hills. Having fallen in love with the eternal beauty of these hills, he immediately decided to spend the rest of his life at Thanedhar; a small village in Himachal Pradesh, fondly labelled as the “Mistress of the Northern Hills” by Rudyard Kipling.

Satyanand Stokes was moved by the plight of the villagers, who were stricken in extreme poverty. Back then, the majority of the people around Thanedhar were shepherds; only a handful of them cultivated wheat and potatoes. He started experimenting on the varieties of pear, plum, and apple saplings at his orchard in Barubagh, Thanedhar. By 1928, the apples from his Barubagh orchard had taken over the surrounding hills propelling the area into a nascent stage of apple cultivation.

Initially, his American origin, unfamiliarity to local dialects, customs, and traditions acted as a barrier between him and villagers. As a result, he was treated as an outsider. Stokes realized this early enough, he noted in his diary: “There seems to be an invisible barrier that stands in the way of any unaffected natural relationship.”

To overcome these invisible barriers, he learned the Pahari–a dialect of Hindi language, spoken in this area– gave up his western attires and started donning the local ones. He also married a local woman named Agnes on September 12, 1912.

His interaction with the Sadhus, who were on their way to Kailash Mansarovar induced him to read Bhagavad Gita and Upnishads in English; later on, he also learned to read the Sanskrit language. Moved and influenced by the principles of Arya Samaj and other religious texts, he embraced the Hindu religion in 1932. And his name was changed from Samuel Evans Stokes to Satyanand Stokes.

Harmony Hall, his estate house was built on the ridge above Thanedhar in 1912. The two-story building is an architectural marvel of the sloping slate roof, wooden beams, and dresses stone and certainly with western influences such as chimneys and big windows.

The Harmony Hall -Residence of Satyanand Stokes

Satyanand Stokes also built a pent roofed style temple next to Harmony Hall in 1937 which is known as Paramjyoti Mandir or the Temple of Eternal Light. The temple has a Havan Kund and carved inscription from Bhagavad Gita and Upnishads that aptly sums up his philosophy of life.

Paramjyoti Mandir

In the year 1924, he also started a Tara High School in memory of his son who died at a tender age of 8 years. At this school, he used to educate the children of local farmers on religion, Hindi and English language, horticulture, self-defence, etc. A special emphasis was laid on the education of girls.

Stokes also carved a niche for himself in the Indian freedom struggle, with his notable contributions. The Jallaiwala Bagh massacre in 1919 made a profound impact on him, prompting him to join the Indian National Congress; holding the unique distinction of being the only American member of the All India Congress Committee. In 1920, he represented Kotgarh at the Nagpur session of the All India Congress Committee.

In the following year, he was instrumental in signing the Congress manifesto of giving up government jobs and exhorting them to join the freedom struggler.

He was charged with “sedition” during the protest against the Prince of Wales Edward VIII’s visit to India and was imprisoned in Lahore (now in Pakistan) jail. This made him the only American to be imprisoned by the British in the Indian struggle for Independence.

His remarkable work was acknowledged by Mahatma Gandhi in Young India—a weekly paper-by publishing a front-page article titled “Reward of Adoption.”

Satyanand Stokes and Gandhi shared an interesting relationship: both disagreed on many things, but their difference of opinion never came in the way of their emotive love and reverence for each other.

“In spite of our intellectual difference, our hearts have always been and will be one”,

Gandhi once told Stokes affectionately.

A social evil of the Begar (forced labor) system of the British and local Rajas was prevalent in the Kotgarh Ilaqa. He found it nothing, but a means to exploit the poor people and fought to abolish the Begar system.

Satyanand Stokes breathed his last on May 14, 1946, but not before he had entered the folklore of Shimla Hills. He dedicated his entire life selflessly to the social and economic upliftment of thepeople of Kotgarh Ilaqa.

His Holiness the Dalia Lama beautifully sums up his philosophy of life:

“The true expression of nonviolence is compassion. Some people seem to think that compassion is just a passive emotional response instead of a rational stimulus to action. But to experience genuine compassion is to develop a feeling of closeness to others combined with a sense of responsibility for their welfare.”

His selfless deeds acted as a springboard for the economic and social prosperity of the Shimla hills. It would only appropriate to call him “The Unsung Economic Emancipator of the Shimla Hills.”

A generation has benefited from his unmatched legacy, oblivious of reparation we all owe to him. To keep following his shown path of compassion, and work for the welfare of society would be a fitting reparation to him-if ever, there could be one.